Serpentine National Park

When I left Colorado, I left with it my hiking boots and other remnants of mountain living. Never did I imagine I’d need them in Perth where flips flops (or even your bare feet) are the favored footwear.

As it turns out, they may have come in handy.  Sitting quietly in the shadow of Perth’s spectacular beaches, an hour east of Perth, lays the Darling Range or Perth Hills as they are more commonly called. Their low-profile provides a quieter way of life nestled in the trees where kangaroos trim your lawns and charming antique shops and bed and breakfasts are dotted along the way.

Friday saw our first real rainfall in several months – washing away the dry heat of a Perth summer and ringing in a beautiful autumn weekend. Yesterday was the perfect day for a hike. Thanks to some assistance from toptrails.com.au we decided upon Kitty’s Gorge in Serpentine National Park, 45 minutes southeast of Perth in "the Hills".

Kitty's Gorge is a 14km round trip hike originating in the historic town of Jarrahdale (named after the Jarrah tree) and ending at Serpentine Falls which is open to the public (at $11) for some good old fashioned waterhole swimming.

Kitty’s Gorge follows the Gooralong Brook which is mostly dry this time of year but I imagine quite beautiful in the spring after the winter rain. We walked through a forest filled with tall lanky Jarrah trees, big bushy grass trees, ferns, palms, and Marri trees - a member of the eucalypt family whose fruit is referred to as “honky nuts”. I like to think of it as the acorn of WA. We also encountered a pine forest which is not native to the area. Pine forests are often planted for the use of their wood. This group of trees would have been plated years before it became a national park and is now a part of the scenery.

Noisy black Cockatoos and a few cheeky Kangaroos entertained us along the way. White Cockatoos and pink and grey Cockatoos are common (pests actually) in Perth but these were my first black Cockatoos.

We wrapped things up with lunch at the Jarrahdale General Store where I rated the best BLT in Perth. I was so excited about it that I finished it off with scones with jam and cream and destroyed any benefit gained from my long hike.

Kitty's Gorge - Serpentine NP

grass tree

Serpentine NP

"Honky nuts"

Marri Tree

fern

planted pine forest

field of clovers

black Cockatoo - can you see the red in his tail?

Serpentine NP



Serpentine Falls



Kitty's Gorge

a native Holly

Exmouth

The Easter Bunny brought an extra special treat this year…five days of no work. Good Friday and Easter Monday are Public Holidays and with Easter falling a bit later this year, it happened to coincide with ANZAC day on Tuesday. ANZAC stands for Australia and New Zealand Army Corp and ANZAC day is a day to remember and honor war veterans.

With five days off work and schools on break, travel accommodations were in high demand. Eventually we found availability at the Ningaloo Caravan and Holiday Resort in Exmouth. The only availability was in the dog park. For once, travelling with a dog had its advantages.

Shane and I last visited Exmouth in August 2009 and I wrote about it in A Winter Holiday. Exmouth (pop. 2,500) is a 13 hour drive north of Perth on the NW Cape Peninsula with the Exmouth Gulf to the east and the Ningaloo Reef to the west - a 260km reef and the longest fringing reef in the world.

Aside from its access to the Ningaloo Reef, Exmouth is most famous for migrating Whale Sharks between the months of April and August. For $370, various tour operators will take you on a full-day Whale Shark experience. Several kilometers out to sea, their helicopters spot the Whale Sharks and you get in and swim with these gentle giants. Some day, when we leave Bronson at home or with the local kennel we’ll experience it for ourselves as those who’ve done it say the experience is priceless. To view a brief video click here .

It’s hard to believe that the American flag once flew proud in this remote Australian town. Exmouth was established as a town in the 1960’s when the US and Australian governments agreed to establish a Naval communications station. Even before then it was a US Naval submarine base during World War II and was bombed by the Japanese in 1942 then abandoned three years later after a cyclone.

We left Perth at 4pm on Thursday. By 10pm I was tired and by midnight I was very tired and at 1am we stopped to sleep. Driving in the dark comes with risks, and fatigue is the least of them. How it came about I’m not sure, but this part of the country has an abundance of wild goats and shortly past midnight, we hit one. When we stopped less than an hour later I was reminded of the fact that my cute cuddly dog is an animal guided by instinct and curiosity as he licked goat blood off the side of the boat trailer. I suppose, another advantage of taking Bronson with us…road kill removal.

While in Exmouth we caught enough fish both days for a generous dinner of coral trout, sweet lip, and a large cray fish kindly donated by fellow fisherman. The winds this time of year were calm enough for us to go a few kilometers out to sea without much complaining from me. And when not fishing, we’d jump in for a swim and a snorkel in the warm waters of the reef.

Emu

termite mound

wild goats and sheep

Kangaroo

sand crab

a peaceful Exmouth Gulf

Captain Bronson



little fish jumping from big fish at sunset



Exmouth Gulf sunset

fishing on the Ningaloo Reef

Indian Ocean sunset

more photos at Flickr